NBA raises committee to regulate legal profession

The Nigerian Bar Association ‎(NBA) has inaugurated a 23-man committee for the review and regulation of legal profession in Nigeria. The committee, which is chaired by Dr Anthony Idigbe (SAN), was charged, among other tasks, to look at issues affecting admission to the Bar, legal education, continuous professional development, legal services as well as professional conduct and ethics.

The Association’s President, Abubakar Mahmud (SAN), said the step was necessitated by the fallen standard of legal profession in the country. Mahmud expressed concerned that for too long, successive leaderships have failed to address issues militating against effective and standardized law practice in the country.

“We are concerned that for too long, the relevant and appropriate authorities have failed or neglected addressing issues or regulatory gaps and challenges that daily militate against the regulation of the legal profession in Nigeria.

“It is one thing to identify what the challenges are, it is another to tackle the challenges head long with a view to providing solutions”, Mahmud stated.

He added that NBA has decided to tackle the challenges as well as determined to play a major role in ensuring a better-regulated legal profession in Nigeria.

“We believe that the first step is to provide a platform to discuss and interrogate the current regulatory regime and come up with recommendations on the way forward.

“There is no doubt that the legal profession in Nigeria is facing a plethora of challenges, and we must move quickly to address these challenges if we are to maintain high standards and remain relevant in the increasingly globalized legal services industry,” he added.

Other members of the Legal Profession Regulatory Review Committee include, Prof U.U. Chukwuemeka Eze, who will serve as the Secretary of the committee as well as Mr Eric Otojahi, who is the Assistant Secretary.

Others are Professor Koyinsola Ajayi (SAN),‎ Mrs Funke Adekoya (SAN), Prof Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), Mr Paul Usoro (SAN) and Mrs Bisi Shoyebo (SAN). Inaugurating the committee officially, NBA President noted that some junior lawyers co-opted as members of the committee, were expected to represent the younger generations on perspectives on the issue of regulation of legal profession.